#like if he trashes Sony etc etc

[releaseholiday]

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[izacore]

What I'm iffy about is Jeff having always been in a position of power over Harry (maybe not literally but at least figuratively). From the moment they met, Jeff was already deep in the manager game and Harry was a potential client. This is not a long standing friendship that was built by two equals with no profit in mind where Jeff turned from friend to friend and manager, this was a business first with an addition of friendship afterwards situation (at least that is how it is presented to the public).

Oh, definitely. Nothing will ever convince me that Jeff wasn't sent by his daddy to try and befriend Harry because they saw a potential gain 🙂 For me it's obvious that this friendship is stemming from the Azoffs' greed. There is just something creepy for me about 26 years old dude being suddenly all over a literal teenager that he "randomly" met.

Let's also not forget, that Fullstop had not existed prior to Harry signing with Jeff and this whole company was built on Harry's back and relevance. The only thing Jeffrey brought to the table were his connections that he had through his dad, because it clearly was not talent.

I know that people love pointing out though how much he has done for H and if it wasn't for him H wouldn't be where he is because the Azoffs are soooo powerful and connected but it always baffles me because somehow this powerful family with so much influence on the industry (Irving literally holds the entertainment industry in the palm of his hand) cannot go against it and has to play according to its rules. So of course it's okay Jeff keeps finding new trashy women to beard for Harry - that's what Harry needs. Of course they keep pushing Harry's womanizer and sex symbol image - they have their hands tied, nothing can be done about it. Harry looks visibly exhausted by stunting, surely they could cut it short? Can't have that, let's play besties with the most disgusting woman they put around him ever. I guess what I am trying to say is, that if this family can threaten Sony because their privileged asses wanted to watch some film earlier than the rest of the mere mortals, they could for sure find a way to have Harry be his true self AND STILL make him successful. But for that you have to take a risk and put your client's happiness above your gains, right?

That's why Harry affirming his friendship with Jeff last night made so sad and disappointed - I just don't want to believe he supports these terrible people who regularly scam and exploit his fans while treating them like trash. Like I said, if he is genuinely best friends with his manager whose family rules the industry, then it's heartbreaking for me that some of the ways the fans are being used for couldn't have been avoided (ticket prices, merch quality etc.). I guess expecting the bare minimum in some cases can still be having too high expectations and that's something I have to come to terms with on my own.

[indiaalphawhiskey]

Something I don't understand about these articles that bring up Larries and their 'conspiracy theory' is that it draws more attention to it and could create new Larries. People who have never heard of Larry will read those articles and be curious and look it up and see youtube vids, blogs and etc. If they are on the fence about Harry's sexuality then they definitely will. So there is just as much chance people will read into it as them laughing it off. The fact that Vulture is paying to promote their trash article hating on Harry and using a clickbait title about his acting and then mentioning the 'conspiracy theory'. Like are they completely dumb? If they want to bury the 'conspiracy theory' then don't mention it at all? I don't get it. Why are these so called critics all going after Harry and writing hate pieces on him and barely acknowledging that there are other actors in the movie too? I'm guessing that they come from WB's side trying to ruin him after messing up DWD promo, or Sony who are terrified of him 'coming out' or even competitors. The hate campaign against him is getting weird, and now they're paying to promote it? Why is his PR team nonexistent? Shouldn't they be planting some positive stuff about him?

Hey, love.

I’m gonna go to the second part of your ask first.

I really don’t think Warner Bros would send a PR “hit” out on Harry like that, for multiple reasons. First, studios and record labels don’t work the same way, in that Harry’s not under an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. and so they have no reason to want to keep him in line or under thumb the way Sony used to in One Direction, nor do they have the power to. He’s employed for one movie, and essentially, because it was a bad experience for Harry (and everyone), WB would have everything to gain by maintaining a cordial, professional relationship with him, if they intend to work with him again in the future. (And, considering how much they’re relying on his brand to keep this movie afloat in theaters, it’s likely that, however they feel about his acting chops, they recognize that the smarter business move is to have someone like Harry (and his fan base) as an open option for the future.)

Second, he didn’t actually do anything he wasn’t supposed to. “Screwing up DWD promo” is a fandom opinion, because we know what he’s like when he actually wants a project to succeed. In terms of his professional obligations though, he did everything he was hired for (and, unfortunately, more). He didn’t speak out of turn, or bad mouth the movie. In fact, he spoke about it in as effusive a manner as he could, given the quality. He played a good little stunt puppet, and even allowed them to piggyback on his music to make bank, so they literally have zero reason to “want revenge”, even in light of the contrast with My Policeman promo.

Rather, I’m pretty sure the disdain from critics boils down to nothing other than the gatekeep-y nature of the industry. Critics are never welcoming of musicians who want to work in acting - literally never - and this is something we foresaw. We always knew Harry would have to be utterly flawless in his role (impossible, three movies in) in order to receive even a modicum of critical praise because they were always going to be exceptionally hard on him, as they are on other celebrities who try and make the leap. The only reason he was spared during Dunkirk was because criticizing him (simply for being Harry Styles) would be tantamount to criticizing Christopher Nolan’s casting decision and that wasn’t a hill critics were willing to die on, especially for a minor part in an ensemble cast.

This, however - pop culture’s current obsession scoring two leading (and one queer!) roles in the same year, with two directors who are still finding their feet - this was fair game. And, it sucks because I think critics would have been so much more willing to go into My Policeman with some room to be surprised, if not for the absolutely overexposed media catastrophe that was DWD. But it’s just too tempting now, too sweet, too (seemingly) justified to be able to tear him down for just having the audacity to throw his hat in the ring, because after that circus, no one is expecting him to be any good. More importantly in entertainment, no one is expecting anyone (of note) to come to his defense. So, even if he holds his own, it’s not ever going to be enough (not now, at least).

This is not to say the criticism of Harry’s acting isn’t warranted. I’ve read some very fair critiques, especially pointing out the contrast between him, and David and Emma. But that’s the thing: rarely are these articles criticizing the actual acting. Rarely do they even seem to get the objective of the movie, if they deign to mention the movie at all. Instead, they’re focused on the Harry of it all and it’s making me laugh because they’re doing the one thing they make fun of fangirls for: they’re making it… ✨all about Harry Styles.✨

And, as for the Larry stuff…

One, their PR teams never did seem to get the memo that if you wanna prove Larry isn’t real, stop trying so hard to prove Larry isn’t real. It’s their twelve year struggle; we’re still waiting for them to catch on.

Two, I’ve said before that fan girl hysteria is an easy and juicy scapegoat. In a bid for attention (which is entertainment media’s main goal), the easiest people to pooh-pooh are young women. Nothing will get you clicks like making fun of a predominantly female fandom, because you have the patriarchy fully in your corner. So, you get the clicks and you get the bonus points of the Jack Chambers-es in every basement high-fiving you with both Cheeto-crusted wank hands.

The caveat, though, is that we silly fan girls turned out to be just a little too right about Olivia Wilde (shocker!) so its still too soon to try and sell the whole “they hate her/her movie cause they fancy her boyfriend” shtick again. So what did they do? They pivoted on the hysteria strategy, and the next best narrative to fans who would fully shank your girlfriend out of jealousy is fans who are so crazy they believe you’re gay and in a 12 year closeted relationship with your former band mate.

Just another day in the fandom. Sigh.

[twopoppies]

Hey Gina. The anon asking you whether you like Jeff or not. I personally feel like a lot of people dislike him because they believe he was the one who started the Hendall stunt along with Kris. I think maybe because when the whole Hendall stunt started back in 2013 that was also around the time when Harry met Jeff (I'm not sure if that's true or not or if they knew each other way before that or after). Also during the Hendall yatchgate Jeff was seen in most of the pap pics with Hendall and apparantly Harry was seen signing a contract. I feel like some fans dislike him mainly because of the Hendall stunt and the stunts after that... However I may be wrong I'm not 100% sure but that's what I think. If I am wrong please do let me know and I apologise if I am. Have a good day / evening / night xx

Hi honey. IIRC, we first became aware of Harry’s connection to Irving Azoff in 2013. At the time, I believe Jeff was at CAA. I don’t remember the timing of everything, but Jeff became a familiar fixture not long afterwards. It wasn’t in any sort of formal capacity immediately, but I do remember the fandom feeling as though their presence in Harry’s life was basically sending a message to Simon/Modest/Syco/Sony that they had his back (and at the time we thought it was connected to 1D as a group, as well).

Yes, the Kardashians are connected to the Azoffs, socially (which is completely unsurprising) and possibly in other ways as well. Kendall was connected to Harry in late 2013 and then again in early 2015 (IIRC both times right before a new season of KUWTK was about to air).

And yes, there was some weird contract signing stunt that happened on the yacht but again, IMO that had to be them sending a message to Sony etc.

The stupid thing that people seem to be ignoring is that if it wasn’t Kendall, it would have been someone else. Like? Who tf cares which vapid model he’s attached to? Kendall is useless as a human, but at least she’s never trashed Harry publicly and barely even needed him in terms of increasing her popularity—she had plenty of fame before he came along.

What I see people doing is acting as though Jeff “made” Harry have a beard or “made” Harry do/say xyz thing that they personally find distasteful and that’s just… silly. Many people want to feel okay supporting Harry even if he does things that upset them, so blaming Jeff for those things helps make that possible for them.

Personally, I’m willing to see that the world is in shades of grey. Artists I admire aren’t going to perfect. They’re not going to do everything perfectly or always be in alignment with my own personally held beliefs. And that’s okay with me. I can set my own boundaries and I’m absolutely okay with how Harry operates in the world right now. And however Jeff is helping him with that, from what I can tell, it seems to be okay at the moment.

[cocochannel00]

I don’t want to be negative but i don’t know if this is going to an established brand.. im scared that only harries are going to buy from it and not people who are not fan. Like for example fenty beauty, rare beauty, and AG perfumes are bought by fans and non fans. Or maybe im wrong!!

It won’t. It’s hard the establish yourself as a brand as a celebrity unless you’re dedicating a lot of your time and it become like your whole focus/persona and frankly you need to be selling more than 4-5 things when you release in order to gain an audience that might be interested. Like Rihanna, Selena Gomez, literally stopped making music to do makeup and create products for things they saw missing in the market that were important to them (Rihanna was inclusive foundation tones, Selena it was containers that were arthritis friendly and good for her sensitive skin). Like they created it for a purpose not just for “fun” like Harry (I’m sorry there is nothing special about any of his products and slapping a circle on top of a nail polish bottle does not count). It shows really that this was more of a fun “because I can” project rather than a passion project. I’m sure there were nail brands that would die to have a fine line themed nail line with him and make fun colors and such but he wanted to create his own, which is fine but like don’t try and make it seem like more than what it is, a side hustle for all the other things he’s doing rn. He’s not going to stop making music or filming movies to dedicate time to the brand like you need to in order to create that establish brand connection with the consumer so I can’t imagine it being anything more than a footnote post every few months with a different random product coming out.

And the interview about it just shows the disconnect of it all. Like he talks about this being a way to give back and create community but like how? It’s nail polish in the most basic colors everyone already owns. It’s an anti-aging serum when the average fan of his is probably under 30. It’s the lack of transparency and vague statements on the website that literally don’t tell you anything regarding where the products are made, how their sourced (aside from “responsibly” like fuck dude don’t give me that). There’s no donation to anything (like you’re giving back to what? Who?)

The fact that he isn’t partnering with a large makeup store like Sephora or Ulta foe this right off the back also makes me think it will flop and just be Harry fans buying it once is because 1) the prices are high for what it is (you don’t release a $65 nail polish kit as your first product) and 2) everything from the branding to the marketing is very targeted for his fans and no one else. This should have been advertised weeeeks before the launch. The Instagram should have been up a month ago. The marketing is trash and solely relaying on Harry’s name to survive.

Like everything is through his website, it’s connected to his newsletter, Instagram etc, that it’s not it’s own brand (Pleasing) rather it’s Harry Styles nail polish kit. He needed to separate himself from it a bit in order to create success but the fact that he announced it at a concert on a billboard and is having HSHQ post about it and Sony Music with the article kind of shows that he wanted everyone to know it’s his brand and that to be the focus.

[mjmacchio1991]

hello! i hope you're having a great day! <3 so... i was just wondering, which are your 80-90s hcs for the boys? <333

Hello! So sorry this is late! My schedule has been swamped but it is all good now! I do have some 80s-90s hc's for the boys and here they are:

80s

Ponyboy got a portable color camera and used it to take photos of nature and the gang.

Johnny would apply decorative pins to every shirt and jacket he owned.

Ponyboy is a giant Earth, Wind, and Fire fan and loves to pop a tape into his Sony Sports Walkman and roller skate to the funky music.

Ponyboys halloween costumes were those vinyl masks and trash bag-like shirts (Pink Panther and other characters).

Steve wouldn’t shut up about the first moonwalk for many weeks after it premiered at Motown 25.

Darry and Dallas were giant Prince fans (bought 1999 record at launch).

The gang saved up enough money to go to a Michael Jackson concert in Kansas City on February 23, 1988 and loved it.

Ponyboy was a big advocate for the “We Are The World” foundation and bought the 45 for it along with getting a “USA For Africa” shirt.

Steve jokingly subscribed Sodapop to all those cheesy teen magazine services (16, Tiger Beat, Teen Machine, etc.) and Soda thought it was strange that he would get those magazines that promised “HOTTEST BOYS OF THE 80’S! 6 COLOR PIN-UP’S!”

Darry really liked the “Rocky” movies.

Dallas really liked the album "Bad" and the music video for it.

Once, Ponyboy accidentally put copious amounts of Razzle candies on Darry’s tab.

Johnny unironically used “grody”.

Ponyboy and Steve stayed up to watch the premiere of “Beat It” on MTV in March ‘83.

Johnny used Garfield The Cat and Odie The Dog stationary.

The gang was really into the He-Man cartoon and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Ponyboy would rush to record songs off the radio with his cassette recorder.

90s

When crystal Pepsi was announced, Soda’s nickname for the whole year of 1992 was “Crystal Pepsi” and he was obsessed with both the name and drink.

The boys became fascinated with BMX biking and tried making their own at the junkyard with scrap metal (Steve broke an arm going down a trash pile).

Two-Bit would like the cartoons “Ducktales” and “Darkwing Duck”.

Two-Bit somehow redirected the schools satellite after throwing rocks at it and, instead of the Tulsa weather channel, all the televisions started playing the live OJ chase in 1994 (Two got suspended for 2 weeks).

Dallas was really into timberland boots and Biggie Smalls.

Dallas also got a single diamond piercing in his earlobe (Curly did it for him with a needle and ice cube) and this inflated his ego to the max.

The gang's favorite movie to watch was “The Sandlot”.

Ponyboy, Soda, and Johnny were Sega nerds.

Johnny started to watch “The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air” and dressed like Will (denim overalls with multi-colored and baggy striped shirts).

Steve would try to fight someone if they tried to diss the remixes on Michael Jackson’s “Blood On The Dance Floor” album.

Soda and Ponyboy were total Pokemon nerds when the show started and got the first movie on tape the day it was released.

Dallas would have his video cassette tapes stacked up in his living room simply because it felt “practical” to him to have them all in one place (Johnny pleaded with him to put them in a cardboard box or something of the sorts).

Johnny was the first one in the gang to buy a CD as they all could only afford audio cassette tapes (Motown Greatest Hits CD.)

Dallas started a secret business with Tim of ripping CDs and making cheap copies to sell.

Ponyboy's favorite snack were Dunka-roos (chocolate flavored).

When their local arcade got a Nintendo 64, they all went and played it for hours for several days a week.

Darry would keep a neatly organized bin in the living room of all his recorded tapes of various movies and talk shows (with Steve's copy of the 1993 Oprah interview with Michael Jackson).

Ponyboy and Two-Bit chatted in AOL chat rooms (Two-Bit usually got them kicked.)

Two-Bit refused to pay for music once Napster came onto the scene.

Ponyboy would get frosted tips like Joey Fatone and be made fun of until his hair grew out.

Steve would wear hammer pants and wouldn’t take any lip from anyone about it.

[grivessillus]

Venom was on TV! Yay!

It took me a bit to see it. I was going to get the dvd when it came out. But couldn't afford it. I'll get it when I can. In some form.

Adolutely amazing film! So unique and fun! Hilarious!

Venom is adorable! He's so funny and emotive. Tom Hardy is amazing as both Eddie Brock and Venom. Very underated film.

It's a actual film. Unlike the total and utter shite that is the MCU. I loathe and despise the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's bland trash. Made to promote itself. The only good one is Ironman 1. A proper film, with proper villains, and real danger. The MCU is were characters die. It's so heartbreaking watching the characters you love get killed and warped by Disney.

Sadly. Poor Venom got sent to that shit in the end of the second one. So Venoms dead till they get him out. Spiderman got sent to that shit. Died. And Sony got him back.

I might see Venom 2 in the cinema. Maybe.

Anyway. Back to the film!

I love the new origin for Venom. No Spider-Man. Not jealousy, etc. Just met Eddie and now they're together. I hope the comics follow suite.

Tom Hardy is perfect for both.

I like how Venom made Eddie behave better. Say sorry to Anne.

The good characters are all really nice and well rounded. The villains are all well written too.

Amazing action scenes.

100/100! Absolutely amazing!

I just hope Venom survives the shite MCU. Please don't let the characters disappear. And don't recast Tom Hardy.

[special-support-section]

kids that long for the percieved glory of yesteryear will allways have bad taste, it happened to our generation, it happened to our father's generation and it happened to our father's fathers' generation, what endures through time in trends is what's popular, not what's "good", whatever that means

okay so while i usually look down on the "i was born in the wrong generation" type mindset it isnt for this reason.

when kids see the 70s, 80s, 90s etc and think "i wish i had grown up to that" the bands they're seeing are what we remember fondly from that era, not what was truly representative of that time. kids wanting to grow up with the beach boys, the rolling stones and black sabbath aren't aware the fucking Monkees were one of the most successful "bands" of the 60s, or that there was always trash that was popular.

every decade has shitty generic pop made by men in suits who were told by Sony or Virgin or whoever to have a summer song in G major or whatever because it's happy. everyone looks at trashy club songs or whatever and is like ah man music is truly dead huh and like, no it fucking isn't. it never will be, no matter how much kanye likes a quick fuck cause he's a sick fuck or whatever.

i really don't know where this is going but basically i don't think there's anything wrong with idolizing the popular acts of years past, because they're remembered for a reason.

referring to that post that brought this on though, 5sos, taylor swift and one direction fucking suck and that kid's shit taste does not make me feel old

this shit does not compare to the early 2000s best pop music

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

“After the disappointment of the Andrew Garfield-led Amazing Spider-Man movies, everyone’s favorite wallcrawler has been having a renaissance. Entering the Marvel cinematic universe in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, the webslinger fully redeemed himself with well-crafted live-action film in Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

 Yes...okay...that was definitely what Homecoming was....

 “and a wildly successful spin-off film Venom, ”

 I mean financially successful sure...

 “In the midst of all his success, Spider-Man has quietly become one of the most inclusive and socially conscious superheroes of today.”

*raises eyebrow*

 Okay...go on...

 “Last week, it was announced that Spider-Man: Far From Home would feature two out transgender actors playing trans characters, the first big-budget superhero film to do so. Spider-Man: Homecoming also featured a queer character, as well as numerous people of color.”

  Wait who was the queer character in Homecoming?

 “It’s also worth mentioning that Spiderverse included a Jewish version of Peter Parker, who is typically portrayed as either secular or Christian.”

 ....ehhhhhhhhh....yes and no.

 In media adaptations barring maybe one (the 1994 show cos I do not remember where he got married) Spider-Man is portrayed as...I guess secular but really it’s more that they just don’t say anything.

 It’s not that the character is not a believer in a faith per se, especially if you go by older adaptations during times when hardly anyone was secular. It’s just that they, understandably, aren’t saying anything.

 In the comics Peter is some kind of Christian but probably a Protestant (unless you go by Amazing Grace where he is an atheist but that’s hot trash we don’t talk about) but we don’t really talk about it that specifically.

 We just know that he and his family celebrate Christmas and very, very occasionally Aunt May references going to church and that she, Peter and MJ believe in a monothetistic deity they refer to as ‘God’.

 And really apart from the Church thing there is no clue to Peter’s religion and Marvel probably (wisely) would rather keep it that way. He even got married in a civil ceremony!

 However in the SUBTEXT...he’s Jewish. And it’s basically an open secret that he is and always has been Jewish.

 “The Spider-Man video game also featured a wonderful easter egg for queer fans by having a giant rainbow flag, as well as several smaller ones, scattered around the game’s fictionalized New York City map. ”

 I mean that’s wonderful but I wouldn’t call that an Easter Egg so much as...it’s just what you’d find in modern NYC.

 “Even the Venom film got in on the fun, with fans shipping Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock and the titular male alien-symbiote after the two kissed in the film. Sony even encouraged the pairing, releasing a romantic comedy-esque trailer for the film to promote the home release. While some complained of queer-baiting, most felt that it was all in good fun and included queer people in on the joke, instead of making us the target.”

 Again, good for them but I don’t think that was the movie actively trying to be positive towards queer people.

 Brock and Venom kissed when Venom was bonded to Brock’s ex-fiance and had a pronounced female form, being an adaptation of a character literally called She-Venom.

 And it was based upon a script written in the 1990s so really it was more the movie did it and then people took it as a thing that was shipping Venom and Brock (even though Venom is sexless). Brock and the symbiote have been shipped numerous times in the comics but the subtext has always been that the symbiote, if any sex, is female. In the Spec cartoon it is referred to as Symbi (a pun on Cyndi) and in the Spider-Girl comics it is marked out as female (granted this happens after it’s bonded to a woman).

 And again, headcanon away but like...that probably wasn’t intentional at all Sony were just being goofy or unintionally made something people took a certain way.

 “Indeed, even in the comics, Spider-Man has always been a fairly inclusive hero. Miles Morales was introduced in the early-2000s, taking over the mantel from Peter Parker for several years. ”

 Okay, this is so weird for me to be correcting such a praising point but lets really look at this.

 First of all Miles didn’t take over Peter’s role for several years he did it permanently.

 Second of all Miles is from 2011 so that’s not the early 2000s, that’s the early 2010s, but okay maybe that was a typo.

 Third of all, is it really all that logical to say this franchise that began in 1962 has always been fairly inclusive and then cite a character from 2011 as proof of this? Wouldn’t examples from during the FIRST quarter century have been more apt?

 Fourth of all...eh. Has Spider-Man been fairly inclusive from the start? Yes, no, its complicated.

 Look there were exactly 0 LGBTQ+ characters in Spider-Man until maybe the 1990s and even then I couldn’t off my head tell you who they were. Felicia Hardy is bisexual but we didn’t find out until the 2000s and it was most prominent in an AU. Really the most significant LGBTQ+ character who’s had the fact that they are queer be more than a one off reference was Max Modell and he debuted 2011 and IIRC wasn’t established as queer until 2012. In defence of Spider-Man the Comics Code literally FORBID any character be anything other than straight until the 1990s and even then it was relatively rare, even in X-Men which you’d think it wouldn’t be.

 If we’re talking POC again this one is a bit complicated Glori Grant, Joe Robertson, Randy Robertson are frequently appearing POC characters but not in every run and they aren’t usually as prominent as like Jameson, Aunt May, Harry Osborn, MJ, etc. Characters of other ethnicities are even less frequent and I don’t even know what we should make of Puma/Thomas Fireheart. I mean A for effort, they wanted a Native American character who wasn’t really a villain and wasn’t exactly a sterotype so there is that I guess.

 Again though...most other Marvel franchises decade by decade weren’t much better with this and we should give credit where credit is due to the same guy who created Black Panther writing a nuanced scene where 2 black people in the 60s separated by age discuss different approaches to civil rights with neither being proven right or wrong.

 When it comes to disabled people, outside of evil insane villains, forget it, there is nothing before Flash Thompson in 2008 unless you count Aunt May’s chronically poor health.

 “Spider-Gwen quickly became one of the highest-selling female superhero comics. Spider-Woman was a prominently featured bisexual character, and the female Asian-American hero Silk also had LGBT supporting characters, Rafferty and Lola, who were in a healthy relationship. Additionally, many view vampire villain Morbius, who is getting a spin-off film starring Jared Leto next year, as a metaphor for those suffering during the HIV crisis of the '80s. ”

 Again...Spider-Gwen and Silk are 2010s characters so that’s not ‘always fairly inclusive’.

 I don’t even know if Jessica Drew is bisexual, I’ve never heard that but I don’t think she is.

 Morbius as a metaphor for HIV...MIGHT be true if we are specifically talking about his 1990s solo-book which I’ve never read. But the character as originally created 100% was never about that because he was created in the 1970s before HIV was known about.

 “Unlike his Marvel counterparts Thor, Iron Man and Captain America, Spider-Man’s world has accurately reflected real world diversity for years.”

 ....Not really.

 I’m not even saying Spidey maybe haven’t been comparatively better at it than those guys but he’s deffo not been accurate.

 Plus to be fair to the other guys, Captain America and Iron Man have had at least one major black supporting cast member and in Cap’s case he was fairly candid about social strife and issues.

 And with Thor it’s not that fair to throw shade at him for not reflecting the real world given that 90% of this characters and stories are literally pulled from fantasy and myth. I don’t even know if there are any queer figures in Norse myth let alone poc.

 “While it’s a seemingly simple idea that any of us can be a superhero, it’s sadly still a radical concept in a endlessly growing film genre that has predominetly centers straight cisgender white men. ”

 Well that’s mostly because the comics the movies adapt are about those types of people.

 “That is because relatability and inclusion has always been core to Spider-Man’s appeal and message. It’s why the late Stan Lee decided that, unlike other superheroes who expose parts of their faces, Spider-Man had to wear a full-face mask.”

  Stan Lee only speculated that that was part of Spider-Man’s appeal, he never had any input on that design choice it was all Steve Ditko...who frankly was unlikely to have been thinking about that...

 “Even further, Spider-Man isn’t the king of a country, a billionaire, a woman out of a Greek myth, or a brilliant scientist. He’s just an average high-school kid from Brooklyn who always strives to do the right thing even while struggling to balance his everyday life and hiding a secret identity.”

 WHOA there buddy...Spider-Man isn’t routinely ‘a kid’ nor is he from Brooklyn.

 MILES is from Brooklyn but Peter, as evidenced by that great big caption in Captain America: Civil War, is from QUEENS.

 “And it’s the idea of balancing a secret identity with everyday life that has always allowed Spider-Man to connect with queer audiences long before comic writers were allowed to explicitly include LGBT characters.”

 ...I’m not denying this necesarrilly but whilst i’ve heard stories from poc who connected with Spider-Man I’ve never heard this about LGBTQ+ fans of Spider-Man.

“Indeed, perhaps the strongest part of Spider-Man’s inclusivity is the subtlety to which it has been done. While Black Panther, Black Lightning, and Wonder Woman rightly put issues of identity front and center, Spider-Man’s quiet diversity allows audiences who typically cry “SJWs are ruining my favorite characters” to actually see diversity showcased without it being overt.”

 Errrrrrr...sure....*represses memories of when Miles Morales was first announced*

 Lets um...wait and see what happens when those trans characters show up in the movie this year okay.

[traincat]

so i was talking to someone and they asked me how come i love a movie that everyone hates? and i just. can understand why people didn't like TASM2? like. I feel that, you'd have to dislike Spider-Man as a whole to actively hate it

Oh man, first off, I just want to say, “how can you love a piece of fiction that everyone hates” is like, one of the worst argument of all time, full offense to whoever you were speaking with. The inner Jewish grandmother in me hears that and says, “What, and if everyone suddenly loved jumping off a bridge, you’d do that too?” There are a lot of reasons for not liking a piece of fiction but “well everyone else hates it” really isn’t one of them, to anyone who feels pressured by popular opinion. It’s totally okay to like things other people don’t, be they fiction, food, or fashion, among others. 

(I have a lot of TASM asks right now and I’m working through them in a weird order, apologies to the askers.)

Which brings me to your second point, and like, obviously I love The Amazing Spider-Man 2 a whole lot, but I do think there are valid reasons why someone might personally not like the movie even beyond just personal preferences like “I like this actor’s performance/face/whatever, I don’t like this other actor’s performance/face/whatever” etc. One big thing about both Amazing Spider-Man movies is that they’re an adaptation of The Night Gwen Stacy Died, and they know what they are – it’s all set up even in the first movie. The bridge models on the Parker mantel place. Gwen’s first outfit, along with her last, are tributes to her classic Amazing Spider-Man #121 outfit, involving a coat, purple skirt, and knee high boots, with the first also featuring her iconic black headband. There’s the “I’m going to throw you out a window now” scene, not to mention the death of George Stacy, a precursor to Gwen’s death. (I’ve talked about this before on Gwen’s death, but I do think it’s fascinating how TASM exists in a pop culture landscape where 616 Gwen’s death already happened, and how that drastically alters George’s last words to Peter, going from asking him to take care of Gwen to asking him promise to stay away from her.) The movies knew what they were doing from the start. The audience, on the other hand, didn’t. And I think the experience of watching TASM2 for the first time can be wildly different depending on if you went in knowing about/expecting Gwen’s (especially brutal) death scene, and depending on your personal feelings about the story TASM/2 chose to retell and about the death of Gwen Stacy. And that’s just one reason.

And I can talk about all the things I love in TASM. I can talk about how, in my own personal opinion, it is the film series that cares the most about being faithful to the source material. (Raimi’s Spider-Man, in my opinion, does a great job creating a very specific look, and drawing on classic elements, and creating its own now classic Spider-Man mythology like the upside down kiss, but it ultimately disappoints me with how it chose to interpret the characters. MCU’s Spider-Man, any other thoughts I have on it aside, is clearly more interested in impressing modern audiences and projecting FUN in letters sixteen feet high than it is in being a faithful Spider-Man adaptation.) And it can be debated whether or not it’s a GOOD thing for a film to try and be faithful rather than doing its own thing, but it is a thing I personally love about it, then I can look at the movies and pull things out of them and go “and they got this from here, and that from there” etc. I like that they did things differently while still leaning into the source material; the mystery of Peter’s parents being a big plot of the plot, for example, is something I’ve seen be criticized, but the fact is this is a plot from the comics and when you have a character who is built on these layers and layers of secrecy, it’s a worthy exploration to see where that comes from. I love that the movies focus so heavily on Peter’s relationship with May, and TASM2′s “you’re my boy”/”I’m your boy, you’re my everything” scene is a huge part of that. I love that they’re both crying in that scene. I love how genuine the emotion in TASM2 feels. I love that the first TASM movie took Flash’s limited screen time and didn’t make him one note – aside from Gwen, he’s the only person in the school scene to try and comfort Peter after Ben’s death, and his “it feels better, right?” line is a reference to Flash’s abusive home life from the comics. I love the amount of detail put into the look of these movies – I love the set design of Peter’s room, the posters, the photos of Gwen, how it’s realistically messy and not at all an Ikea-looking cookie cutter set. I love Gwen’s evolving style between the first and second movie, trading in her sleek straight hair and sweaters for waves and jewel toned pattern pieces. In a visual medium like a movie, all of this information is used to tell you things about the characters, and I think TASM uses its environments and its wardrobe to pack as much information in as it can. I love that TASM2 filmed 90% in New York state, which as far as I know is pretty unique in a superhero film. I love that both movies are a love letter in their own ways to New York, to the dazzling heights, to Spider-Man’s iconic connection to his home city. And yeah, I love the tragedy of the movie, I love The Night Gwen Stacy Died as a story that changed the landscape of Spider-Man, I love the raw emotion of the whole thing, and I love that a version of it was made where Gwen got to save New York not once but twice before she died, and how it’s not fair, but the point of it is that it’s not fair, and I love stories that sometimes don’t have happy endings, and I love the performances that were given in retelling this particular story. And yeah, I love that TASM and the people involved in making it, including Andrew Garfield, obviously really cares about Peter Parker as an individual character, and they let him be angry, and be sharp-tongued, and physical, and weird, and not a perfect person because what mattered was the responsibility in the character. TASM’s “That’s not your job”/”Maybe it is” exchange says it best.

But I think ultimately where a lot of the hate comes from is that there’s a pattern in fandom, and we saw it with Raimi > TASM, and with TASM > Homecoming, and even a little bit with Homecoming > Into the Spider-Verse, though I do think the last one is a little difference because of the circumstances. I’d like to think that all the recent criticism of Homecoming’s blatant theft of Miles’ character and story to build up the MCU’s version of Peter Parker is genuine (and I do think most of it is) but I see this patteen whenever a new version of something comes out. There’s a tendency – and I think some of this is studio-led; they want people to throw out the old in favor of the new because it’s simply much better for their business – to trash the one that came before it. Oh, actually, it was bad, it was boring, people only liked it because of this one actor, etc. The MCU in its entirety, with all the marketing power of Disney behind it, has become incredibly good at doing this not just with other Marvel movies under different studios, but with superhero movies on the altogether, whether it be through buying review or through the pressure exerted to acknowledge the MCU as The One True Superhero Movie Franchise. (For the record, there are MCU movies I like, and ones I don’t, and ones I don’t feel anything for, but I truly doubt that the evangelical nature of the truly hardcore MCU audience sprang up completely organically.) Sooner or later, they’ll reboot Spider-Man as a live action film again. I hope they pick Miles as their lead when they do, but it’ll probably be Peter again, and even if the next one does star Miles – eventually, there will be another Peter Parker movie, and as soon as the next actor is cast, we’re going to see this pattern again. I would be willing to put money down on it. 

At the end of the day, like I wrote in my big Homecoming criticism post, I’m a little tired of the idea that there can only be One True Adaptation, which is where a lot of this argument comes from, when it comes to a body of works that spans decades and hundreds upon hundreds of issues. “Oh, we already had a bunch of Spider-Man movies” is like, so? We already had a bunch of Spider-Man comics, too. There’s so many stories to adapt and retell, and I love the one TASM/2 threw itself into adapting, but there’s so many more I want to see up on screen, too. (Here’s to Sony’s announced Kraven movie project! PLEASE be a Kraven’s Last Hunt movie!) 

But yeah, ultimately, popularity isn’t exactly the best metric for how good a movie is, let alone how much you’re allowed to enjoy it, and what matters is that you liked it. I love it a lot, too.

[townsenta]

y’all this is long winded but

last week some rando stole my credit card info from the ps store and tried to make many game purchases (for $196, $50, etc) but the only one that went through was adding $60 to my wallet and then buying two shitty ass games for $47 leaving $13 in my virtual wallet. so this $60 charge alerts my credit card company which then alerts me and i go through the mental and emotional hoop jumping of cancelling my card and getting a new one and they credit me my $60 back SO yesterday i charged $53 (oof) on my new card to preorder elsweyr collector’s edition which brings us to the tricky $13 still in limbo because evidently the ps store still had it as available funds even though my cc company had refunded the whole $60 to my account so i was only charged $41 and some change WHICH BRINGS ME TO NOW where i go to log in and find that my account has been banned, which at first i was like “hwat the fuck?!” but i finally worked it out and realized that i owe sony thirteen measly buckaroos and that’s probably why my account has been banned but since today is sunday i have to wait until tomorrow to call support and explain to them this whole dramatic narrative so i can fix this and get my account back and i just. ugh.

sincerely fuck that guy that fraudulently charged my credit card so he could buy fucking need for speed man what a trash heap

[giotanner]

what do you think about new method of publicity chosen by Fabrizio (or more precisely his staff)? people on twitter came with critics and honestly I don't get too why such a dubious publicity (it's good for teenager stars, not for him).

Hi anon, I think it's not bad as it seems. That's not a contest with likes or such a bad influence for his status. The MUSE made the same contest a month (or two?) ago, so what's is the problem? It's not so teen, the publicity is "sings a verse of HBDC and the most originals will be on Fabrizio Moro ig stories". His staff not decides without him (when he was young he went away from his record company because he has big problems with them. In these years he is with Sony and he feels comfortable.)

Then Fabrizio every time he choses or make something to have more publicity here we are with drama 😅 many fans (since 2013, when I listen, before I dunno) are "I want more public for Fabrizio! BUT I DON'T WANT MORE FANS FOR FABRIZIO! I want his songs in radio, on tv etc, BUT I DON'T WANT HE SALES AND HE DOESN'T SING ANYMORE ON CLUBS" in Italy literally: vogliono sia un artista DI NICCHIA, ma si lamentano perché le sue canzoni sono belle e pochi le conoscono.👌👌

In the past he went at Festivalbar (summer italian festival a bit trash, for example) and he always said he is free to make choices, more business or less (he wrote for the italian pop singer Emma, do you know how much drama he has? Ah, guess it. The drama is always there, when he practically wrote for her 'cause he was in a bad period and he can only be an author, compositor.)

He doesn't want a genre, was he for social issues? Also. But he is for genre pop, rock, reggie etc too, he says always he doesn't want labels, in this way he can do genuine choices with freedom. His freedom costs to him, he knows it very well, so nobody can say what to do or not to do. ↓

♡♡

[dusty42363717-blog]

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[loubootins]

@louis, Syco, and the marketing of the next TXF winner

As much as we’d like Louis’ stint on TXF to be a one-and-done deal, I think there are some unfortunate long term negative consequences if Simon, Sony, and Syco get their way. While I desperately hope I’m wrong, I’m going to outline what the long-term implications of what I think they’re attempting to do by forcing Louis’ participation on the show.

What does Louis’ presence bring to TXF?

From my perspective, there are three primary ways they can leverage him and his fanbase.

1) A new buzz for TXF - which is up for renewal by ITV soon.

While I stand by my previous thoughts that there are some positives to his participation in TXF such as new content for the fandom and our ability to see him being engaging and charming, trash publications have done everything they can to spin his presence as a negative.

The renewal of the show in no way benefits Louis (though if he doesn’t come back as a judge, I do not think it will necessarily hurt him either). I’m not even sure most of Louis’ fans will watch the live shows and probably won’t even likely vote. But it does provide a certain renewed social media buzz for the show that it hasn’t had in years.

For example, let’s take a look at some Twitter stats.

@louis’ recent tweets about his participation on TXF:

Now, Robbie’s Twitter, for his single announcement.

And one tweet (fairly representative in terms of stats) from TXF’s account:

@louis’ promo of TXF has more than ten times the pull of Robbie’s one promo on Twitter, which is his most popular one, and thousands of times greater than TXF’s own Twitter account. Note that TXF’s twitter actually has about 6 million followers... so by that logic, shouldn’t @louis provide only 5-6x more interaction and exposure? Think about it.

2) Syco and Sony’s intention to launch this year’s TXF winner through @louis’ social media

The @louis twitter has long been a billboard for TXF and Syco projects. Given the statistics above, it’s not surprising why Syco treats @louis like their own expanded account.

I already know people are going to say “Louis is a great mentor. What if he’s just trying to be supportive?” I do not doubt that Louis Tomlinson, the person, is a great mentor who is supportive of people he takes under his wing. But given the history of @louis being used this way, I’d say 1) multiple things can be true and 2) it’s more likely to be a billboard as that’s what it’s been used for in the past.

This kind of push would make most sense if whoever Louis mentors wins... so based on that, I think that whatever category Louis is given will have the producers’ choice of winner. Unlike many people, I don’t think TXF/Idol/etc winners are chosen beforehand... the point of these shows is to build an audience or market for the future winners. Because you know what happens when there’s no audience or market for the product you’re trying to sell? PrettyMuch.

2b) Louis will sign the winner (or his highest finishing contestant) onto Triple Strings

As an addendum to the previous point, people have already started to theorize that Louis might sign the winner or his top contestant to Triple Strings. This would give Louis a financial stake in the winner... which is not a bad thing. It’s not particularly rare for artists to launch other artists. Eminem launched 50 Center; Jay Z launched Rihanna. 1D helped launch 5SOS, and the boys have financial stakes in the band. Diversifying your portfolio and increasing profits is not necessarily a bad thing.

However, given Trashface Wattpad’s recent harping on the failed girlband, attaching Louis’ name to a project that doesn’t do well is just more fuel for the fire in a media environment that is already against him.

3) The new winner(/signee) is meant to further Louis’ ties to Syco and provide a new source of revenue for Syco.

Unfortunately, if Louis signs the winner and they become successful, that continues to float Syco. As others have theorized, Syco the label might be done by the end of 2019. I really doubt that whoever they launch is going to dig Syco out of its financial debt, but hope springs eternal in these kinds of circles. 

Regardless, I think even if Louis doesn’t sign the winner or sign on for another season, they’ll still be promoting the new artist through @louis for a while to come. I wouldn’t even be shocked if they were the opening act for Louis on tour -- provided LTTour happens.

This sounds dour. What can we do?

So here’s the thing... is there anything any of us could’ve done as fans to stop BG? To not have BTY pulled off the radio? To have Miss You be delivered to the stations? No matter how impressive the fandom views itself to be, for the most part we’re being pulled along for the ride.

Continue streaming and buying Louis’ music. Make sure he knows he has an audience that wants to go to his tour. Demand LT1 until it’s released.

You make it sound like Louis is helpless, and he’s not. Why don’t you trust in his decisions?

Since undoubtedly this is going to be a thing that is said... I don’t think Louis is helpless. In business proposals, there are always two parties. Most of this analysis has been written from the perspective of what Syco wants to get out of Louis, not what Louis’ needs or wants for himself -- that he’s capable of negotiating. And has been negotiating.

I hope Louis’ new team negotiated this as a one-and-done, that he doesn’t have to sign the winner or promote them, that Syco will disolve at the end of fiscal year 2019, and that’s that. I hope I’m super super wrong. But I’m making an educated conjecture about the patterns I’m seeing, and what I think, Syco, as a business, wants -- regardless of what Louis’ plans are. I don’t think these conjectures are too out of the way of reality. But no one’s put pen to paper yet about them.

I’ve seen a lot of “next six months” posts, but I think it’s also important for fandom to keep in mind that whatever’s happening might be tying Louis down for more than even six months. That there are even longer-term implications to this situation than just his participation as a judge, before he can release the album and tour.

[arttrampbelle]

I used to like ironman

And to some degree still do

But tbh im done with his shit.

And if the character actually died in endgame which I'm highly suspecting he does considering the contract is done with marvel.

I honestly feel nothing and dont care.

And even if he lives i dont care.

Because its not mcu

Its ironverse.

Cuz ironman is in almost fucking every damn movie and im sick of him.

I can't believe marvel studios made me actually hate a character as time went on. Its usually the opposite.

Maybe its cuz i just hate how their trying to make him more sympathetic more then he deserves to be.

And the fact they try to Make him marvel batman and boy wonder spiderdweeb.

Ugh.

Of all the characters i am not sorry for. Its gotta be ironman.

So much so i don't even wanna look at Robert Downey jr much anymore. And he's a cutie. And a kind person i heard.

It's sad.

Plus since they fucked up spiderman so many times i stopped caring in general bout marvel movies. After sonys venom. Marvel movies in general are just done for me.

I can't enjoy them like i used to.

I'm burnt out and honestly if i was gonna watch any marvel movies again id wait till black panther 2. After that nah. Unless they do something good.

Maybe sony with venom 2. BUT ONLY IF THEY MAKE IT R RATED CUZ OF CARNAGE. CUZ CARNAGE BETTER BE R RATED AND SHIT OR ITS A NO FROM ME. INSTANTLY TRASH. CUZ YOU CAN'T MAKE A SERIAL KILLER FAMILY FRIENDLY. NOT EVEN A HATD PG13. R RATED OR NO GO.

Carnage will be the teller for me if that already a dumpster fire of a franchise will work.

I love marvel characters. I just hate the writing and how its being handled.

You can get mad all you want but this is coming from someone whos tried and tried again to get into the movies but none of them ever hit the mark. None. Mcu,sony,etc.

The only ones that made me feel like a kod again was into the spiderverse and black panther. And maybe the first avengers. I did like the first ironman but after a while ironman became annoying and stale and overrated.

Same with captain america. But not as much.

Hell all of em became meh.

I'm glad their ending avengers.

Move onto other things. Please.

But maybe marvel should fix their damn comics first. But hey a girl can dream. I doubt they are gonna fix it.

Anyways. I'm just done with fans. Marvel movies and all that for a while.

I'll talk bout my fave characters and stuff. But still.

I'd rather move onto other things for now. At least till this damn hype dies. Ugh.

[neververy4]

Holiday List 2018

 Hey Mutuals! It's almost the Holiday Season and if you felt really givey then here's a list of things that you can get me. Doesn't haveta be new, can be literally trash you have laying around, as long as it works and fits on the list

> Things I can use on a daily basis  - Mini DisplayPort to VGA adapter     + My current one stopped working  - Sony Mavica FD-73 Battery Charger (And maybe extra batteries)     + Mother threw the old charger away accidentally     + I really miss this camera, I took it everywhere     + I even made a blog of all the various things I took with it     + It's a big part of my life and I really want it back  - USB Floppy Drive     + Same me a shitton of trouble moving files around  - 1.44MB 3 1/2 Floppy Disks     + I still use these a lot for some of my stuff     + Can never have enough  -  44-pin 2 1/2" HDD to CompactFlash adapter     + My beautiful 1994 PackardBell laptop's hard drive is dying and I still heavily use that thing     + This will both       * Replace the dying HDD       * Make files easier to transfer onto the computer     + I can tell you what this is if you don't know what it means**

> Things I actively collect (My Hoard)   - Dragon merchandise  - Outdated computer books (ForDummies, HowTo's, Manuals, etc.)  - Random PCI/PCIe/ISA/AGP/(etc) computer expansion cards     + I really miss the days of when these were needed to add ANYTHING     + I like to slap as many as I can on a PC even if I don't need them     + I just really like to see all those ports and stuff. Feels important

 I 100% made this post for attention in case you had any doubts. Also this isn't a have-to-get list either it's just there for if you want to gift me but don't know what I like. What I like is useless trash anyways.

EDIT: Thanks to a friend who got me some stuff ? ! ? ! I didn’t think someone would actually buy me stuff but he did and  ! ! I’m hella ! grateful? ! !